BALTIMORE — Governor Wes Moore's office is pushing back on a recent report questioning claims of his family's past in the 1920s south.
The conservative-leaning Washington Free Beacon, last week published an in-depth article that claims to have retraced the steps of Moore's great grandfather, Rev. Josiah Johnson Thomas.
On several past occasions, including in his 2014 memoir called 'The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters,' Moore tells the story of Thomas, a South Carolina minister, being forced to flee the U.S. for Jamaica after facing threats of lynching from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
In their reporting, the Free Beacon alleges the reason Thomas left America was to succeed a prominent Jamaican pastor who unexpectedly died in 1924.
Thomas, after all, was a native of Jamaica.
Citing local newspapers of that era, the Free Beacon reports Thomas made no reference to the KKK or any mention of being forced to escape the United States upon returning to the island, which was a British colony at the time.
In response to the Beacon's story, Moore spokesperson David Turner called it "absurd, ridiculous, and from a partisan, right-wing outlet known for shoddy work."
"As most people with a basic understanding of American history know, Black Americans often carried an oral tradition of their history due to low literacy rates at the time," added Turner, who then attacked WMAR-2 News for simply seeking comment.
"Being asked to prove a negative by a reputable outlet like WMAR is not something I would expect," Turner lectured us. "You all deliver quality journalism. Don’t succumb to the siren song of hackish trolling. WMAR is better than that."
This isn't the first time Moore's faced scrutiny over claims regarding his background.
Last summer President Donald Trump revisited a past controversy about the legitimacy of Moore's military Bronze Star award.
"Did Wes Moore, the Governor of Maryland, lie about getting a Bronze Star," Trump asked on Truth Social.
While Moore did end up receiving the honor, it wasn't until 2024, well after publicly stating he'd already gotten it.
